The Unwound World According to Flora Reinhold
by Nixi Stasia
Summary: The third and final installment of "The World According to Flora Reinhold". Set during and spoilers for Lost/Unwound Future.


**AN: Here is the final installment of this trilogy (and I'm very sorry about how long it has been) however I can guarantee it will not be my last Flora fic.**

 **I do not own Professor Layton. I do not own Flora. I do not own a house. I rent. I do not, however, rent Professor Layton. I have no claims to make on that whatsoever. All credit is due to Level 5.**

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The Unwound World According to Flora Reinhold

Flora climbed into the back seat of the Laytonmobile solemnly. Her shoulders slumped and her head held low. If it wasn't for her usual pink dress, she would look as if she were at a funeral. That was, however, what she felt like. She felt as if she were grieving, just like she'd done at her Father's funeral. She sighed as she clicked in her seatbelt and leant back.

"Are you not sitting in the front passenger seat?" The Professor asked, looking at Flora through the rear view mirror as he clipped his own seatbelt into place.

"Hmm... Oh," Flora mumbled in response, her eyes looking toward the empty passenger seat.

To her, it was Luke's seat. It always had been to her. Ever since that day she left St Mystere for London, Luke had jumped into the front seat of the car and Flora had gone in the back, and for every other journey that followed, that was the Laytonobile's seating plan. It was rare that the Professor and Flora would make a journey just themselves and so Flora had thought nothing of it as she climbed into the backseat.

"You can move if you wish," The Professor suggested.

She thought about moving into the front seat. After all, it would certainly make for a less bumpy journey in the passenger seat, but... She couldn't seem to bring herself to do so, which did indeed seem silly. It was just a seat, but after that goodbye, Flora couldn't bring herself to sit in _Luke's_ seat.

"No, thanks," Flora declined. "It's... comfier here."

"As you wish," The Professor nodded and then started the car up and the two drove away from the shipping dock.

Flora sighed and sunk back into the seat as if she was heavy with burden. She felt sick to her stomach. With another, slightly smaller, sigh she turned to watch the sea fade into the distance. It had happened barely moments ago, yet it nostalgically reminded her of watching Luke's ship to France sail away into the distance. The Professor and herself had stayed on the dock after they had said their goodbyes to Luke. They watched it become smaller and smaller until it disappeared to make its journey across the channel.

"We'll see Luke again soon, Flora," The Professor said, hearing her sighs. "Don't you worry."

Flora smiled faintly. She knew he was right. She knew they would write. She knew that one day she would go to France or Luke would return to England, even if it was just a visit. But it still wasn't the same. Things were going to change again. She was going to have to adjust again. She hated having to be alone and now her best friend had left the country. How on earth could she adjust her life to be happy with her _best friend_ across the sea? She didn't know and she was scared to find out.

-X-X-X-

Just like she had on her first journey to London, Flora fell asleep. When she woke up, they were back in London and driving towards Gressenheller. She looked out of the window; it was a force of habit.

It was unfortunate that the area they had to drive through to get back home was one of the areas which was damaged seriously in Clive's attack. It looked like a war zone. In a way, it was.

Due to traffic diversions, which were of course caused by the attack, the Professor was forced to circle what had been a public garden until three weeks ago. It was surrounded by yellow police tape and wooden blockades, which presumably had been placed there for extra security. For where the garden had once been, where flowers had been planted and were children would have skipped gleefully, there was now nothing but a deep crevice in the earth. If one were to get close enough to look down the hole, they would have seen the fake Future London. The damage that had been done would take perhaps a decade to fix and would cost millions.

Flora inhaled sharply in anxiety, as they drove past and she imagined what Future London now looked like now it was empty. All the citizens had been brought up top and back to the year nineteen-sixty-seven. According to the newspapers, Dimitri Allen had induced partial seizures into the kidnapped citizens and confused them into thinking it was the nineteen-seventies in their delirious state. The Professor had guessed something similar. Now that the citizens were adjusting to normal life in the real world, Flora imagined the London that lay beneath to be dark and baron. Through the holes in what had been the sky, the sound of diggers and cranes that worked to fill in the holes would echo throughout the acoustics of the cave. The city would be dead. Much like the real London almost had been.

Flora still couldn't quite believe any of it. She couldn't believe that the Professor had once had a lover and she couldn't believe that she had died in such horrifying circumstances. Furthermore, she certainly still could not wrap her head around the fact that she had appeared ten years in the future. It was a great devastation that she had been taken back to the grave, too, Flora had thought. She seemed like such a nice woman and the Professor most definitely did deserve to be loved after all that he had done to everyone- especially herself. It would have been very pleasant to have someone else in the Layton household, especially another Lady (though Flora loved both Luke and the Professor dearly, it would be nice to have someone who understood some womanly needs a bit better around).

Clive, too, left Flora rather bewildered. The man confused her in many ways and intrigued her in others. When she first met Clive, she had believed that he was Future Luke, but when she looked back to her first encounter, she wasn't sure how she had been so swept up in it all. For he was nothing like Luke, with the exception of his haircut and even then, surely the way Luke styled and trimmed his hair would change over the span of ten years? It was a ridiculous claim, but it had worked and in some strange, crooked way it had worked and won herself, Luke and possibly the Professor (whoever knew what he was thinking?) over.

What Clive Dove had done to London was horrible, terrifying and devastating. It was an act of terror. The school day had resumed in recent weeks (having ceased for just under a month due to the grief London was put under) and when classmates had learnt about Flora's involvement with the event, they'd crowded her with questions.

"Did he hurt you?"

"Where you scared?"

"What happened?"

"Did you see the machine that made all those holes?"

"Is it true Professor Layton stopped him?"

Flora's answers were vague. This, of course, didn't stop the questions and intrigued her classmates even more. When Flora refused to answer, this unfortunately lead to speculation of many different untrue rumours that painted Flora as the victim of some very unpleasant experiences. All of these rumours, were completely false, but knowing that it would only lead to more questions, Flora said nothing to suggest the falseness of the fastly spreading rumours. She told no one the truth. Not even the group of friends she spent her breaks and lunches with.

Flora never said anything about Future London, Clive or the attack.

This was because she did not want to appear mad by telling the truth. Many different newspapers, regional, national and international, had reported on the attack, and the story differed in every single newspaper. The Daily Paper accused Dimitri Allen of being a Russian Spy sent to kill the Prime Minister. The Londoner stated that Clive Dove was an abused child sent from foster home to foster home. The World Times, was closest to the truth, however still neglected to mention the story of Future London and no other newspaper covered it. In fact, no newspapers covered the information about Bill Hawkes' previous career in science and his unethical experiment which caused Claire's and Clive's parents death. Bill Hawkes had been painted as a victim in every single story and nothing made Flora madder. If anything, it was incredibly disrespectful to those who died in the explosion ten years ago.

It made Flora boil with fury when she heard her classmates say "who would ever do something like that to the Prime Minister?' but she said nothing. She knew no one would believe her. Everybody would see her as a liberal (everyone knew that the Layton household was more left wing than it was right) and say that what she was saying simply wasn't true. They all believed the newspapers. And why wouldn't they? They weren't there. But Flora was.

Flora did not know where she did not know where she stood on Clive Dove and his behaviour. It goes without saying, that Flora completely disapproved and was indeed very much horrified and distraught at his actions toward London, but on the other hand, she counted Clive Dove as a victim. She could see the reason behind his actions. She could understand why he wanted to do what he tried to do. She, herself, would never do such a thing on any scale and she knew there was no way that Clive Dove could be declared a sane man by any medical professional. She wished that she were to never see him again and she could still feel his hand grasped tightly around her upper arm.

However, Flora not blame him for his actions. She blamed Bill Hawkes. But no one else did.

As it turned out, the real London was just as corrupt as the fake.

-X-X-X-

By the time they arrived back at their residence, Flora was still thinking about Clive... And Luke. She could get neither out of her head, yet at the same time she wasn't quite sure what she was thinking about. Was she angry about the recent attacks or was she upset over Luke's departure? It seemed to be a mix of both. Her mind was a blur of emotion and her thoughts trailed around like a maze. She tried to put them all together, focusing on finding a particular thought and then matching it, like one of the Professor's puzzles, to one of the many feelings that were making her head and stomach swirl.

"Are you all right?" The Professor asked.

The two had made their way back into the household and Flora, without a word, had settled herself down onto the settee and curled up. Obviously, this had heightened the Professor's concern for Flora. He knew that she was in a fragile place at this moment in time, after everything that happened with Future London and then if that wasn't enough, Luke had left. The Professor was worried that Flora would return to her state of isolation, like she was back up in the tower in St Mystere.

In response to the Professor's question, Flora merely nodded.

"Do you want to talk?" The Professor offered.

Flora jerked her head back to the Professor's direction, in shock. It wasn't a rare occurrence for the Professor to ask how Flora was (it was the complete opposite to rare, for that matter) but if Flora were to say yes- which was what she said a majority of the time- the Professor would simply nod and carry on with whatever he was doing.

Flora would have said no, but considering this, she took him up on the offer. She wondered whether perhaps it was he who wanted to talk.

"Sure," Flora nodded.

"I'm sad to see Luke go, too, you know," the Professor began, once he'd sat down.

"You don't seem to be," Flora remarked, only realising after she'd said that those words could be taken the wrong way. Luckily, it was the Professor she was talking to, and he would always understand.

"Ah, well, that comes with being an adult," The Professor said with a small smile.

"Not a gentlemen?" Flora asked.

"Hmm..." The Professor said in a chuckling tone. "In all honesty, I don't think there's much of a difference between being an adult and a gentlemen, do you?"

"Well, I suppose..." Flora thought for a moment. "You don't have to be an adult to be a gentlemen."

"Indeed," The Professor agreed. "When Luke became my apprentice and I became his mentor, I asked his parents what they wanted me to teach him. They said to become a mature and caring person. He already had the caring part down, however, I suppose that can be a lot easier to teach."

"Do you really think so?" Flora frowned. "I don't think so."

"And why not?" The Professor asked.

"Because... Because then the world would be different. Because then... Then all of what happened..."

"Wouldn't have?" The Professor finished her sentence. "Perhaps you're right. Then again, do you think any of those involved in what happened with Future London had someone teaching them to be kind?"

"Clive had his adoptive Mother..."

"Who also perished."

"But... So..." Flora paused and thought for a moment. "So you think if his adoptive Mother hadn't have died, he wouldn't have... The fortress wouldn't have happened."

"I'm positive," The Professor nodded. "Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that having a string of bad things occur can leave you feeling rather... Belittled. You begin to feel that you're having things done to you on purpose, because you don't always see that bad things can happen to good people. And so, you turn bad."

"But you didn't," Flora pointed out. "You didn't turn bad."

"No."

"Because you're a true gentleman."

The Professor smiled. "Well, if that's the case, then that takes us back to the beginning, doesn't it?"

"I suppose so."

"So, what happened with Future London is still bothering you, is it? I can understand that. It was very traumatic, for many. Including you."

Flora gulped and shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. Her arms began to tingle and her spine began to shiver. She began to play with her hands. The Professor subtly peered over to see her digging her fingernails into her hand.

"It's all right," he said calmingly, reaching over to put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay," Flora dismissed. Her shivering had stopped and she now seemed frozen still. "I'm just... Confused, I suppose."

"Confused? What about? Perhaps I can help," The Professor offered.

"It's just... I left St Mystere and I didn't know what I would find outside of it, but... I just didn't expect it to be like this. Papa thought I'd be ready for the world by now. He thought it would be safe for me, but... I just wish I'd stayed in St Mystere."

"Flora..." The Professor began, but then paused. This would be hard to word in a way that someone, so emotionally overwhelmed, could understand. "You can't fear the world. You can't let the bad win."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Flora questioned, turning to face her guardian more directly.

"Well, you see, I know that seeing and hearing the stories of my investigations and experiences, as well as seeing for yourself what happened with the fortress a few weeks ago, it can... It can have a rather devastating effect on a person. You see too many bad things at once and not enough good things to combat them with, so you become bombarded with the badness. But the truth is, the world isn't all that bad. There are many, many good things about the world, and it's important that you never stop acknowledging those good thing, although understandably that can sometimes be hard."

"What good things?"

"Well, there's many. You just have to know where to look and understand that sometimes you have to look. Everybody talks about the bad things in such hysterics that sometimes it can be hard to pick up on the good things. They get over-shadowed. But... Every single day, we get closer and closer to combatting diseases and disabilities. Everyday, there is a scientist somewhere in the world who makes a new discovery, that brings us closer to the understanding of everything. More people are born a day, than who die. We gain more than we lose. There are people in the world who sacrifice so much for completely selfless reasons. They do ridiculous things for charity and for political causes, all in the name of creating a better world. There are so many good people in the world. And I think a lot of people regret it."

"But do you think there are more good people in the world than bad?"

"Oh, most certainly," The Professor replied. "Think about it, you have met and come across many people who have done bad things, because of our experiences and the help I have offered to people and for my work as an archaeologist. Do you think that your friends at school have met as many people who've done bad things as us? Of course not. And when you think about it, when you're out and about in London, every day, how many people do you come across who you wouldn't class as good people?"

"None..."

"Exactly!" The Professor smiled. "You see, there are a few people... You could refer to them as bad people, I suppose, but what you have to understand is that, a majority of the time, if someone is doing anything, they have a reason behind it. Some reasons are just misguided. And the world does have misguided people. It has a few, but that is a few too many. I agree with that, but on the otherhand, there are many, many more good people than there are misguided. It just so happens that due to fear and alarm, you hear more about the good than the bad, and you can't let that defeat you."

"I... I understand that," Flora nodded, she had a faint smile of her own etched upon her face, too.

"Good," The Professor beamed.

"Does Luke know all of this, too?"

"He does, indeed. It's the number one lesson of being a gentleman," The Professor replied, with a slightly jokey tone.

"What about being a lady?"

"It's a rule for being a lady, too. A rule for everyone, in fact," The Professor nodded. "If there is one thing I were to ever teach Luke and yourself, it would be that. The world is a mad, strange and a rather wound up place, if I might say." The Professor laughed

"But there's many good things that the world has to offer too!"

"Now, that' the spirit!" The Professor chuckled and stood up. "Now, I quite fancy a pot of tea. Do you want to join me?"

"That sounds nice," Flora smiled.

"Grand. I'll go and put the kettle on, then, shall I?" The Professor said, and he made his way into the kitchen.

Before she got up to join him, Flora simply smiled to herself. The Professor was right. He always was, she supposed. The world was indeed an absolutely bizarre place to live, but she wouldn't have it any other way. After all, she had spent years in a tiny village, months in a tower, and was now out in the big wide world. And in that big wide world, that at times was scary, she now knew that there's always something good to look for- and that would be how she'd spend the rest of her life, in the big wide world.

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 **AN: Wow, only took me three months to write. * looks up to the sky with clenched fist * Damn you, uni! I have indeed, as you may have guessed, beeen very busy of late. Over Christmas, I shall hopefully have more time and such to update my fics and write a one-shot every now and again.**

 **This was the last installment of this series and I did it rather differently to the other two, as I thought 1) it would be more fun to write and 2) more fun to read. Plus, I feel the message is kinda relevant to our current times and fanfiction doesn't usually cover historical and present context, but why not? I'll start a trend.**

 **A review would be great! I'll see you guys with more updates and more Flora fics in the future!**

 **Nikki~**


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